WordPress has seen a rapid rise in popularity that corresponds to the growth and success of the blogging community. It's little wonder then, that search marketers have studied and evaluated the SEO aspect to this blogging platform. The consensus in online marketing is that WordPress is great for search engine optimisation with the numerous plug-ins available and the ability to tweak code. But SEO aside, how does WordPress deliver as a blog publishing platform? We have judged the application and listed out a set of pros and cons.

Pros

• Probably the biggest factor in its favour is the simplicity with which bloggers can create and manage their content on WordPress. The simple intuitive layout can be used by the unsophisticated user with little need to understand Adobe Dreamweaver or any other HTML editor.



• Of course for the savvier blogger, PHP based plug-ins can be written to provide a variety of customisation options. This makes the application so much more flexible and there already are innumerable plug-ins created by users across the Web.



• A WordPress page can have a "parent" which allows bloggers to comprehensively categorise their blog posts and sub-posts.



• Retain your site and domain name, as long as you own it. WordPress can be integrated into your existing website with its content management system. So as long as you renew your domain and pay for hosting, your blog will be up and running with WordPress.

Cons

• Unfortunately the biggest problem WordPress has faced is the numerous security issues that have cropped up with each successive release. Needless to say, WordPress quickly released patches and no issue was ever deemed higher than a "Less Critical".



• WordPress is not a difficult platform to handle, but it can at times seem confusing to the newbie. But with a huge online community, there's no dearth of help for the neophyte to turn to. There are tutorials for almost all basic to intermediate tasks on WordPress easily available. In addition, consider joining forums where experienced users provide invaluable advice.



• Real flexibility requires plug-ins that may be extremely resource intensive. These can eat into your server resources, lowering available bandwidth and in the worst case, result in suspension by your webhost. It is advisable to track resource consumption of each plug-in before you turn it on.

WordPress is a great software since despite its flaws, far outstrips rivals like Blogger with great performance, flexibility and most importantly, the ability to optimise your blogs and websites for search engine marketing.